Quilt Retreat in Monterey

Hi everyone! Just got back from a wonderful weekend in Monterey for quilt retreat with my quilting store. The weather was fantastic and even though I didn't get as much done as I had hoped, I went on a long walk with my friend and co-worker April and we chatted about everything and had a hilarious time with my other friends Phyllis and Sue. The food was great, my room was terrific (it looked out on the water) and the time away was needed. I'm inspired to quilt again and just need to finish some year-end scrapbooking so I can work on quilts again. Here is a photo of the moon setting over the water from my room on Sunday. The moon was full and it was a beautiful morning.

The DaVinci Exhibit at the Tech Museum

Well Happy New Year everyone! We celebrated the event with a New York evening which consisited of New York steaks for dinner, fantastic dessert and then we watched the ball drop in New York (9:00 PM), had party blowers, confetti and lots of running round!

Over the weekend we went to The Tech Museum to see the held-over DaVinci exhibit. It was really fantastic. What they had was his original manuscripts blown up with the drawings and then a full size replica made up. Also in some cases they had another smaller version which people could use to see how all the parts moved. Its amazing how all these items worked. The exhibit then led up to the giant horse that he made and they also brought in two of his paintings from the Uffuzi Museum in Florence. I highly recommend this exhibit. We then had popcorn and went to the Imax theater. The kids had never been to one. We saw Seamonsters. Maybe not the best choice for the first experience but nevertheless no nightmares!

Happy New Year - May I spend less time at the doctors

Hi everyone: Well today is the last day of 2008 and while things have been pretty good, I still hope that I can spend less time at the doctors in 2009. I have alot to be thankful for including my husband, my home, his job, my children and my family and friends. I'll be 43 in two-weeks and I think that physically I'm feeling about 80. It's time to do something about it again (while I sit here eating a bowl of Pops cereal). There is not alot I can do about my potential parathyroid tumor, my enlarging thyroid or my deteriorating brain, but I can try to lose the weight which is going to be my one of only two New Year's resolutions (the other being finish up all the quilt kits sitting in my closet). I think that's enough of resolutions, don't you?

On a lighter note, I finished another quilt for the store called Farmer's Market. It's a huge quilt that would easily cover a full bed and is full of bright colors. I'm currently working on my father's quilt and after that I've got three more cut up and ready to go. I do have a tote bag that I'm working on for the store and a stitchery one too for myself, but that is whenever I get to it. Enjoy my quilt and have a wonderful and safe New Year.

Sigh...The Holidays are over

Well we are past Christmas; down to the last two nights of Hanukkah and it's time to take down the tree, lights and hundreds of decorations I put up. We did have a good holiday and the kids got alot of what they asked for. Here are some additional photos. Thank you to all my friends and family for their wonderful cards and gifts too. Now I look forward to my birthday (yea right) in a couple of weeks and my quilting retreat!!!

Happy Hanukkah!!!!

Here are some photos from our first night of Hanukkah. We had our yearly traditional potato latkas which stinks up the house tremendously! Then we lit the candles for the first night and then opened presents. We have two more days until Christmas and then more presents, then up to Grandma Bailey's house for even more presents.

Our Hanukkah Bush

Yesterday we went up to Crest Ranch Tree farm up on Empire Grade road to get our Christmas Tree/Hanukkah bush. After getting it situated, we let the kids loose on decorating the tree with blue and silver with the occasional colorful ornament thrown in. The kids did a great job this year and here it is in all its glory!

And Yet the Cloud continues....

Just when things were getting better around the house, bam! I get hit with a really, really nasty cold. It turned into bronchitis and then into a sinus infection. I have more medication than I know what to do with and have gone through too many kleenex boxes to count. I'm hoping this is my one bad cold this season, because I just can't manage it anymore. Anyways, I have managed to finish up several projects during my down time, just very slowly. They are here. Enjoy!

We did have a very productive weekend though even though Mark and I are sick; we managed to get our holiday lights up and Mark put up some new shelves in my quilting/crafting corner so I can spread out more stuff. So hopefully I'm healing and so is Mark and we can have a quiet holiday.